how long till a 50 watt solar panel pays itself off in buffalo, ny if its $500. i have national grid and heres the link to the rates. i am residential.
the Department of Energy has a ' solar hours calculator for locations around the US factoring in hours of sunlight.....the other factor is how perpendicular to the sun the panel is.....as a wild guess I'd say Buffalo's solar hours factor is about 3....which means as an average over 365 days you get 3 hours a day of maximum ( 50 watts ) output. So 3 x 50 x 365 = 64.25 kWh a year. At, say, 5 cents a kWh, you're making $24.63 a year worth of electricity. See why the houses of upstate New York..let alone Ohio or Virginia or Georgia.....aren''t covered in panels?
I have a small system and do not make enough to sell back (no batteries) so it was less than 7 years BUT when you are talking about putting the initial in to a high yield div account and comparing it then I would say it took only 4 years to pay for because I was invested like many others with the capital it would have taken to get a large system and that investment LOST money while my solar pays for itself every year bit by bit. With systems now more efficient and rebates bigger and the investment alternatives not any better it is an easy choice.
lots of info about solar panels, perhaps you'll find answer to your question renewableenergyarticles.blogspot....
